“My name is Never and I am 18 years old. When I was 10, I was removed from school along with my younger brother and sister and we were sent to work with a fisherman. The work was hard and very dangerous.”
Never and his siblings had a normal life until their father began experiencing financial problems and was not able to provide for his large family. The parents were approached by a fisherman who offered to care and send the kids to school in exchange for some work. He offered to pay US$200 for each child, but only paid US$133 for the three.
Once in the fishing community Never worked 14-hour days. A typical started at 5am when he and other children would set off in the dark to begin a long day on the lake. After a meager lunch, they would continue fishing and repairing nets. Never and his siblings would return from work at 7pm.
Although they caught many fish, these were sold by the ‘master’ and were never allowed to use for their own consumption.
“Being sick was not an option,” recalls Never. “When we complained, they would beat us with paddles and force us to continue working.”
Never missed his family so much that he often dreamt of the day when someone would come and take him home. Never was exploited for 2 years before being rescued.
“It was 6pm when an IOM team came on a rescue mission to the village. If not for IOM, I don’t know how my life would be today. Because of what happened to us, we did not behave like other kids, so IOM gave us training before we were brought back to our homes,” adds Never.
The horrific experience kept haunting him even after he returned home. “Sometimes I dreamt of big fish chasing me in a river,” recounts Never.
But he does not blame the fisherman who treated him badly. “I know it is their way of doing business; sometimes it comes from ignorance.”
He is a happy and well-adjusted teenager living with his family and currently in his last year of High School. He believes education has changed him. He speaks English and interacts with friends and other people.
“If I manage to finish school, I will teach my younger brothers and sisters how to read and write, so that they will be like me,” he states proudly.
Never has many plans for the future: “If I have the money, I will set up a business for my family, so that they will not suffer from poverty again.” Never hopes his story will bring rescue to hundreds of children who remain trafficked.
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“Kwame”, now 15 years old, was among the 36 trafficked children rescued by IOM Ghana in 2008. He comes from one of the fishing communities in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region of Ghana. Prior to his rescue, he was working with a fisherman as a fishing boy in one of the fishing Islands along the Volta Lake.
During his rescue, it was discovered that his left eye was severely injured and needed medical attention. Before being rescued, he informed the IOM team that his injury was as a result of sand entering into the eye but later confessed during rehabilitation that he was injured as a result of diving under the water to disentangle a fishing net. While under the water, a stick pierced his left eye...
See the attached report for pictures and the rest of Kwame's story.
